


In the Garden

by MistressRenet



Series: Thirty Times Together [1]
Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Future Fic, Gardens & Gardening, Jossed, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-31
Updated: 2007-01-31
Packaged: 2018-10-17 21:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10602924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressRenet/pseuds/MistressRenet
Summary: Hakkai wanted a garden.Written for 30_lemons back in the day. Maybe I'll even finish this time...





	

Hakkai had wanted a garden, of course.

And Gojyo, of course, had given in. "Just a couple vegetables," he'd said, but he soon found himself hiring Jin to plow with his water buffalo, and Hakkai was planting rice and beans and something called 'corn' that sounded all right but was suspiciously from the New World.

Gat'd been from there, and he'd been all right, but Gojyo still wasn't sure.

And then Hakkai had proposed the flowers. "Isn't it a lot of work?"

"Now, now," Hakkai had said, not paying attention to any of it. "A little color will help the house immensely, and we might be able to stretch our finances a bit by not painting."

Of course the house had needed painting _anyway,_ a fact Hakkai had seemed suspiciously happy about, which was why Gojyo was balancing on the side of the house holding a bucket and swearing at the heat.

Hakkai, of course, was tending to the flowers. Because "After all, Gojyo, you haven't gardened before."

Gojyo hadn't painted a damn _house_ before, but somehow that never seemed to bother Hakkai.

And now Hakkai was _cooing_ at the flowers. Shit, he could be annoying sometimes. "I've read their growth is improved immensely by speaking to them," he'd explained. Gojyo thought it was just further proof that Hakkai was a jack short of a full deck, but he kept the uncharitable thought to himself.

Hakkai pulled out one final, annoying weed and smiled at his work. Asshole. Enjoying the nice cool earth while Gojyo sunburnt as red as his hair used to be.

Hakkai's hair, of course, was still raven-dark. Not that Gojyo was complaining about _that;_ the signs of mortality were obvious enough on his own body. He didn't need to see Hakkai grey to remind himself he was getting older, that it was decades and more since he'd first picked a half-dead youkai out of the road and dragged him home.

And at some point the home had become theirs, with a porch Hakkai'd insisted on their first year home, and now the garden in the back. And Gojyo's hair had slowly inched toward pink and he'd buzzed it off so he wouldn't have to hear the monkey laugh.

Halfbreeds were so rare no one was sure how they aged, and he'd lost track of Dokugaku again. No idea if his hair was greying. Probably just as well.

Gojyo wiped the sweat off his brow, again; the kerchief he'd tied around his forehead was soaked through now, worse than useless, really.

"Would you like some water?" Hakkai asked.

"Yeah," Gojyo said, blinking sweat out of his eyes. "Yeah."

Hakkai handed him a tall glass with sliced lemon and ice. Gojyo nodded his thanks and drank, watching Hakkai watch him drink, the muscles of his throat moving. Heh. Maybe he'd get some, if he wasn't too dead to fuck later.

"Can I have another?"

Hakkai frowned. "Your stomach will cramp if you drink too quickly."

"Fuck that, I've sweat out a bucket."

"Perhaps you should take a break."

 _Perhaps you should get off your ass and paint,_ Gojyo thought, but instead he just put the paint bucket down and followed Hakkai into the house. He collapsed into a chair and waited for the next glass of water to come.

The sun was setting when he woke up. "Shit," he said. "You shouldn't a let me...."

Hakkai didn't answer, though. He wasn't in the house at all; he was sitting on the porch watching the sunlight fade. "Gojyo," he said.

"Hey," Goyjo said, sitting down beside him. "Sorry I slept so long."

"I'm sorry," Hakkai said. "I fear that the painting is rather more...grueling than I'd expected. I'll help you tomorrow."

"You don't have ta," Gojyo said, leaning into him.

"Don't be foolish." Hakkai's arm came around his waist. "Should we check on the garden?"

"You wanna, sure."

Hakkai smiled, gently. "I was hoping tonight would be...."

"Be what?"

"Well," he said, taking Gojyo's hand, "we'll see."

Gojyo hadn't really paid much attention to the flowers. They were flowers. Guys weren't into flowers, unless you were Hakkai, and Hakkai was, everyone knew, fucking crazy.

So the scarlet blossoms that greeted him when he turned the corner were something of a shock.

They weren't like the flowers he'd given Mom. Those had been simple; nothing much more than road weeds, really. These were cultivated, with waxy, dark green leaves and lush, multipetaled flowers. They ringed the garden, and there were a series of white blossoms just inside the ring, half-open, catching the light with their sheer opacity.

"The red ones are peonies," Hakkai said. "The white ones are moonflowers, and only open at night. I thought...perhaps we would catch them at the right time."

 _Why'd you do this?_ Gojyo wanted to ask. But he knew Hakkai would never have an answer he'd find adequate. Hakkai probably couldn't even explain it to himself.

Gojyo let go of Hakkai's hand and walked over to one of the peonies. They were bushy; the hot, wet weather had been good for them. Almost all of them had two or three fist-sized blossoms, with sharp-petaled flowers.

They smelled...weirdly familiar, like a perfume one of the girls at the bar used to wear. Nice. Pretty.

Hakkai was still standing at the edge. "They smell lovely, don't they?"

Gojyo thought he'd better not mention the girl. "Yeah," he said. "They do."

The moonflowers were softer, their petals almost translucent. They didn't smell like much of anything, but Gojyo reached out to touch one anyway, feeling the veins of the petal against his skin.

"I'm sorry," Hakkai said. "I've spent so much time out here...."

"It's cool," Gojyo said. "It's...they're beautiful."

"They are," Hakkai said. "But still. The house...it's too much for any one person."

It probably wouldn't have been ten years ago; but neither of them wanted to think of it like that.

"'Sides," Gojyo said. "You won't have to put all this work in next year, right? It's just keepin' it up after the first year."

"Well," Hakkai said. "Some of the flowers, yes, but the vegetables...."

"We'll eat 'em," Gojyo said. "Just do some of the damn painting."

Hakkai laughed. "Yes," Hakkai said. "I will."

Gojyo looked up. Hakkai was still standing still, watching him. "The hell are you doing over there?"

Hakkai's smile grew more genuine, and he walked into the garden.


End file.
